from the not-so-good dept

We were among those who were disappointed that EA -- a company that has tried to suggest it had learned that DRM was bad -- decided to move forward with a required internet connection on Command & Conquer 4, even after many people had complained last summer, when such plans were leaked.

"Booted twice -- and progress lost -- on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions."

He later warned people to beware if their connection wasn't solid:

"Well. I've tried to be open-minded. But my 'net connection is finicky -- and the constant disruption of my C&C4 SP game makes this unplayable. The story is fun, the gameplay is interesting and different at least -- but if you suffer from shaky/unreliable DSL -- you've been warned."

Perhaps next time EA just focuses on giving people a reason to buy, rather than treating them like they're criminals-to-be?

from the this-is-a-mistake dept

Last summer, we wrote about some reports that EA was going to require a constant internet connection for Command & Conquer 4. At the time, many people argued that this was a bad, bad idea and would backfire greatly. Given EA's serious problems with bad DRM pissing off customers, you would think that EA would tread carefully here. In fact, late last year, EA gave some signs that it was moving away from annoying and draconian DRM.

On top of that, we all saw what happened when Ubisoft tried to require an online connection as a form of DRM. The game was cracked within hours of release -- and then the DRM servers crashed and were offline and slow for quite sometime -- pissing off all sorts of legitimate customers.

Given all of this, you would think that EA would know better than to move forward with plans to include this same form of DRM with C&C4. No such luck. Brian was the first of a few of you to send in the news that EA appears to be sticking with the plan. While that news report seems to indicate this is a new thing, it's not. It was announced last summer -- but it's really unfortunate that EA hasn't yet seen the strategic error in moving forward in this manner.